Hoffman5982's Super Awesome Driveway Swap- Finally Running

[badbob2121]

I think I like the Sentra one more.

They both look good, but i also think the Sentra piece looks a bit nicer

I will say 1 positive thing about you Hoffman...

[240sxAli4Life]

Ok babbob...

[s13sickboi]

[Hoffman5982]

Hey guys, finally got the fitting to fix the coolant line and got my motor warmed up. The sound continued even when the motor warmed up so I cut it off. About 10 minutes later I started it again, motor still warm, and the sound was almost gone. At a certain rpm you can still hear it but it's not as bad as when the motor is cold, so I'm about 80% sure it's the VTC gear. Shot a video of a cold and warm start today so you can hear.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHfdF0aLUrw[/youtube]

Also, picked up a 96 grill for 20 bucks. I'm going to paint it this week along with fixing my lip. I think those 2 things and the fog lights will really refresh the front end of my car.


Lastly, and I wasn't going to post this til I got it installed, but I have an s14 dcc coming to me. It should be here by the end of the month, and I've gotten all the sensors for it out of a Maxima. My climate control buttons looked really worn and I was about to spend 50-60 bucks at CourtesyParts to replace all of the buttons and the front plate, but then I found the dcc and thought "why not?".

[krash]

That sounds like a rod knock to me.......

Then again, I don't know what a VTC gear knock sounds like

[Hoffman5982]

Yeah, I haven't fully factored rod knock out, it's just most things are pointing to the VTC gear. I've seen some vtc gears make the motor sound like a diesel and others that sound exactly like mine.

I have an intake cam gear from a Sentra SR because I read somewhere that it should work and will delete the VTC. It will kill my low end but would only be temporary until I can afford a VTC gear. If I could get a straight answer as to whether I can use it or not then that would make me 100% positive the it isn't rod knock.

[krash]

It probably will work mechanically, but I would assume it would affect things negatively. The whole setup is built for VTC, so just removing the VTC gear seems like it would screw stuff up. I'm just guessing here though.

[Hoffman5982]

Well the reason I got it was because everyone said that an s13 sr intake gear will work just fine, and the Sentra SR gear will fit the s13 sr and therefor should fit the s14 sr. The only negative effect I've seen is the loss in lower end power, but there's not a lot of information that I have found so there could be more

[Lobo240sx]

Sounds like a lifter. Did you check your cam caps?? I'd also check your cam journals and oil ports to be sure the hole hasn't closed up. It is hard to tell sometimes.

[Lonismos14]

whats up hoff?? Your 240 is coming a long way... I do have a question as to what exactly did it take to relocate your fuse box.

[Hoffman5982]

Not much is going on with the car. I bleed the lifters last night and installed a new chain tensioner and nothing changed. I ordered a VTC gear from a Nico member so I'm waiting on that to get here.

I do, however have a few minor things in the works. The first is something I've been wanting to do for some time, and thanks to Christmas I was able to swing it.



It's the master set. I plan on doing it within the next few weeks. I'm gonna wait til I get new ES differential bushing and Moog ball joints so that I can do it all at once. While I have the rear subframe and front arms out I'll sandblast and paint all of it so it's nice and clean under there.

Next is something I've already told you guys about, but it came in sooner than expected. My s14 DCC unit came in today, and I must say I am very impressed. This thing is mint. I was expected some gouges or worn buttons. The worst I got was a minor blemish on one side. For $26 SHIPPED from Japan, I couldn't ask for more. I also got all the sensors for less than 10 bucks(gotta love local upullits), so I basically got the whole dcc setup for about 40 bucks. I'll take it!



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New:



No clue on when I'm installing it. I'll be pulling the dash to do so because, according to the most helpful write up I've found, in order to have the 20% recirc and 20% fresh functions work you have to get to a plug and add 2 more wires to it. If I'm going to install this, I want it to work 100% with no drawbacks.

So now I'm just waiting on the new gear to get here and pray that it will fix it. I'll be picking up a new gauge cluster in the next couple of days and will be making an oil catch can. It won't be anything fancy as I've only been messing around with a welder for about a week, but it will be functional and tucked away to hide it's ugliness.

[badbob2121]

Nice, the DCC looks great

i also got thev ES master kit this week, awesome kit for the price

[Hoffman5982]

Yeah, I was gonna order a brand new center console from CourtesyParts but they are out of stock, and after helping a friend with his I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet.

Also, Lonismo, I completely ignored your question earlier. My fuse box tuck was very easy because of the giant hole that appeared after screwing up while cutting the hole for the cold pipe. I just unclipped the rows of fuses and relays and took them out of the box and was able to feed them down into the fend area and then put them back into the fuse box. Sometime in the future I want to do a proper relocation to somewhere in the cabin, but not the glove box.

[Hoffman5982]

Well guys, put the new gear in tonight and nothing changed. Pulled the solenoid out and cleaned it tested it with a 12v and it's fine, still nothing. I left it running for a few and it was like a flip was switched and an abnormal amount of dark grey/black smoke started coming out of the exhaust. We pulled the plugs and there's a good bit of oil it on the piston. Not like standing oil, just the piston is clearly wet with it. Everyone has said that while the engine is breaking in with new rings it will run rough and can smoke until the rings fully seat but I have no clue anymore. I think I'm going to pull the head within the next few days and have the valves and lifters inspected and go from there

[Razi]

That sucks.

At least you're a pro at taking the head off haha.

[Hoffman5982]

Yeah, sadly you are correct

On a side note, here's what my KA made it in to.http://pensacola.craigslist.org/cto/2781547717.html

It really is a small world. Sold it to a kid back in Dothan, AL, and a few months after moving down here I see the car at a local drift event. Turns out the kid sold it to someone down here who used it as a drift missile. It's cool/sad to see how much abuse the motor has taken. One of my biggest mistakes ever made

[Hoffman5982]

Alright guys, not really an update but just thought I'd share the recent "progress". Had someone come over and look at/listen to the car and he is pretty confident that it's a lifter, as plenty of others have told me. I had to wait til I knew school was taken care of, but tonight I ordered a full set of new ones and hopefully they'll be in early next week.

In the mean time I decided to pull the dash to knock out the DCC install. I had the dash out in about 20 minutes and was immediately disgusted. I think I mentioned that about 2 1/2 years ago I had a short that caused my stereo to intermittently shut off and eventually escalated to the point where it stayed off for about a month. I pulled the dash and "fixed" the issue. At the time I was new to cars in general, much less wiring. It was my first major feat with the car. One thing I was not experienced with was soldering. You can imagine what kind of job I did. Add in the wiring to the gauges and boost controller/turbo timer, it was a mess. I didn't really snap any pics except this crappy cell phone pic. You can see what I've been dealing with for the past 3 days.


The picture just shows how messy it was, but not how crappy of a job I did, which is probably for the best. So for the past three nights I have been sitting on the floor where the passenger seat should be cleaning it all up. Tonight I finished the passenger side and ended with a neat harness routed up to the firewall and over the the passenger kick panel. The big jumble near the stereo is all sorted out now and all I have left to do is rewire the relay for my turbo timer and the driver side tweeter, at which point I can begin with the DCC install. I'll be back with after pics of both the cleaning and dcc install within the next few days

[homeslicej2]

Wow, that looks like a mini rat's nest. At least you're cleaning it up though. Using your down time productively. I need to clean my gauge wiring up as well. I didn't do the best job with them initially.

[fthitt0311]

Wow. I just read that whole thread in between class and all. I wish I had your motivation and dedication. This is just unreal. I hope you finally get it perfect and smooth man seriously.

[Hoffman5982]

Lifters did not fix it. $350 down the drain. Good night

[Hoffman5982]

Well guys, I hate quitting, but I've just gotten to the point where I've had enough. Our old house has sold and the new owner will be closing on the 31st. My parents have been gracious enough to supply me with a new motor when they get the check, and I'll part the current motor out to recoup as much of the money as possible. I've been looking and I've decided the safest route is to search for an auto s14 sr. Why? Auto's are less likely to be abused and definitely not drifted. I lose having a spare transmission and flywheel but I can live with that. If anyone has any thoughts on that, feel free to share.

With all of that said, I'm not necessarily giving up just yet. If I can keep my parents from spending money on me I will do my best to do so. I'll be pulling the head once I'm done with the DCC install(Just have a few wires to solder and a sensor to run) I'll be pulling the head. If I can't find anything I'll pull the block.

Anyone needing S14 SR parts should keep an eye out on the classifieds. If I end up parting out I'll be keeping the Cody Ace brackets, G20 throttle body(will still have 2 sr throttle bodies), valve cover, and obviously the transmission and all of that stuff. Of course, if anything is damaged then this will change, but that means I'll have pretty much all brand new components for sale. If you wanna make dibs, feel free to pm me.

[krash]

THATS WHY SRs R TEH SUCK!!!
I kid, I kid.

Good call though, there comes a certain point when you have to move on. Also, very smart about buying an auto SR, I wouldn't have thought of that. Your parents are awesome dude! My dad gets pissed at me when I by parts for my car with MY OWN money, it'd be sick if he actually liked and wanted to contribute to the project. Good luck sourcing a new motor dude!

[Hoffman5982]

Thanks man. I think it's more of they're tired of my car being torn apart in their garage and all the miles I've been putting on my dads truck with driving to school and all. Either way, I'm very thankful for them doing this and will do my best to pay them back.

Auto SR's are a little harder to source it seems, but if I can get my hands on one that's what I'll do.

[homeslicej2]

Cursed motor? Best of luck with the new motorset bud.

[Jagstang]

Damn, Hoffman that's BS dude. I read this thread before buying my S14 kouki SR, and when I saw all the issues you were having, I started to concider going ka-t. But then I just decided to go with the cleanest one I can find. Found the one that's in my car now, and it is mint as balls.

Before I bought the engine, the seller did a cold compression test, and my SR got 160 psi across the board. It hauls waaaaaay harder than my 232/232 cammed KA, it's unfortunate that yours is giving you the problems you've shown throughout this thread. Sorry man.

And as for your idea of getting an auto SR, that's smart, look how mint auto SR's can look





MINTTY!

Those pics are from a seller on ebay by the way.

[Hoffman5982]

That's actually the motor was I was looking at. Stock BOV and all.

And yeah, the month that the motor did run it ran really well. It was plenty of power to keep me happy

[Jagstang]

That's actually the motor was I was looking at. Stock BOV and all.

And yeah, the month that the motor did run it ran really well. It was plenty of power to keep me happy

Yea, SR's feel great, I don't see why people think the VTC equipped S14 SR's have no bottom end torque in comparison to the previous S13 red/blacktop sr's.

My friend drives a camaro with a 5.7 litre, and he helped me with the sr swap, and when it was done, I gave him a ride, and he was speechless, he said the SR had waaaaaaaay more torque than he thought. He was thinking that it would be a little faster than the KA, but only when above 3000 rpms... Boy was he wrong

Also, you should strongly think about picking up that auto s14 SR. . . Saw the compression test video's they posted? It's 180 180 180 and 190 or something on cylinder 4, that's like. . . Perfect!

[Hoffman5982]

Yeah but I noticed that each time before they cranked it the gauge was at 25psi, but even then they're still good. How much boost are you running on yours?

[Jagstang]

Yeah but I noticed that each time before they cranked it the gauge was at 25psi, but even then they're still good. How much boost are you running on yours?

Yea I noticed that too, you can send an email and ask for a test on another gauge? And ask for pics without the valvecover on (that's how you shop for good sr's, you need to be picky), if they don't want to do it, they can go **** themselves.

As for boost, I run 7 psi while dailying it, and when I want to get by quicker, I have a second setting set at 10 psi. When I drag race, I have it set to 13 psi.

[Hoffman5982]

Yeah I was planning on contacting whoever I plan on buying from before so I don't have to go through this again.